The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Gentiana plant, botanically known as Gentiana scabra of the Gentianaceae family, commonly known as Japanese gentian, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘GENTO’.
The new Gentiana scabra cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Rune NIELSEN, in Odense N, Denmark. The objective of the breeding program is to develop a new Gentiana scabra variety with a good “gentian blue” flower, combined with a good growing character, with many shoots and branches.
The new Gentiana scabra ‘GENTO’ originated from a naturally-occurring mutation. Unprotected Gentiana scabra plant material was brought to Denmark in 1994 from Japan, and this unprotected Gentiana scabra plant material has been grown in a controlled breeding program in Naeldebakken, Denmark since 1994. From this unprotected Gentiana scabra plant material, a naturally-occurring mutation line designated by the inventor as 09.C001 resulted in 2007, after being propagated via tissue culture.
The new Gentiana scabra ‘GENTO’ was then further discovered and selected by the inventor, Rune Nielsen, as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated mutation line designated as 09.C001 in July 2007 in a controlled environment in Odense, Denmark.
Asexual reproduction of the new Gentiana scabra ‘GENTO’ by cuttings was first performed from January of 2008 in Odense, Denmark, and has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new cultivar are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction. The new cultivar reproduces true to type.